The present invention relates to a print control apparatus and method for performing print control concerning booklet printing and, more particularly, to a print control apparatus and method for performing print control concerning booklet printing in a system constituted by an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer and an output apparatus such as a printer.
With the development of recent computer technologies, the performance of computers have improved, and printing apparatuses are equipped with various functions under the control of the computer. As a function of the printing apparatus, a booklet printing function has become available.
When, however, booklet printing is designated by an application program running on a computer to execute printing, a conventional printing apparatus does not perform any special control for one booklet in booklet printing. For example, to print a booklet with a different type of paper (e.g., colored paper) for the cover from that for the body, the user must perform special operation.
For example, the user separately prints a cover and body, and binds them after printing. Alternatively, the user sets one cover paper sheet on the top of a printer cassette having body paper sheets, and immediately prints the cover and body at the same time.
In a case wherein the printer performs saddle stitch in booklet printing, the cover and body of a booklet must be stapled, so that the user must execute the latter operation.
The present invention has been made to overcome the conventional drawbacks, and has as its object to designate a paper feed selection for the cover of the booklet separately from the body, and enable printing out a booklet with a cover desired by the user without any cumbersome user operation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a print control apparatus and method capable of automatically determining limitations caused by the hardware of the printing apparatus and limitations caused by designating different paper feed selections for the cover and body of a booklet to print the booklet, and explicitly indicating to the user whether or not booklet printing with a designated cover is possible.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a print control apparatus and method capable of preparing a means for allowing the user to designate whether or not to print data on the cover and back pages of the cover of a booklet, and satisfying various booklet printing needs of the user.
To achieve the above objects, a print control apparatus capable of performing print control concerning booklet printing, comprises acquisition means for acquiring information for determining whether or not booklet cover printing is enabled, notifying means for notifying a user that booklet printing is disabled when booklet printing is disabled, determination means for determining whether or not a cover can be designated in booklet printing on the basis of the information acquired by the acquisition means, and setting means for setting a paper feed selection for a cover of a booklet by the user separately from other pages.
To achieve the above objects, the print control apparatus further comprises cover printing designation means for designating by the user whether or not to print data on the cover of the booklet, or back page printing designation means for designating by the user whether or not to print data on a back page of the cover of the booklet.
To achieve the above objects, a print control apparatus for performing print control concerning booklet printing, comprises means for determining whether or not a cover can be designated in booklet printing on the basis of information for determining whether or not acquired booklet cover printing is enabled, when booklet printing is disabled, notifying a user that booklet printing is disabled, and allowing the user to set a paper feed selection for a cover of a booklet separately from other pages.
To achieve the above objects, a print control method in a print control apparatus for performing print control concerning booklet printing, comprises the step of designating a paper feed selection for a cover of a booklet separately from a body, and enabling printing out the booklet with a cover desired by an operator.